Synopsis

Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.

Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.

This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

My Review

It took me forever to read this book. I’m not even kidding – I have been reading this book for 3 months now. I’m not even sure why – I mean, I’ve read other books in between reading this one, but for some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and finish this. I actually thought about not finishing it a few times, but the book itself wasn’t necessarily bad, so I figured that one day I would come back to it.

So yesterday, out of nowhere, I sat down and made myself finish it, and it turned out that once I started, I was able to go right through the rest of it with no problems – in fact, I was looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I guess I was in a bit of a reading slump with this one, and for a while I lost interest, but in the long run I ended up finishing it and thinking that hey, this book is actually kind of interesting.

Anyway, let’s talk about Hooked. I’ve always been drawn to books that are realistic fiction, and this book definitely falls into that category. The main character, Thea, finds herself falling head over heels in love with Will, a senior in her school. Thea is used to fending for herself – her mom is kind of flighty and not all that together as a parent, while her dad is a recovering alcoholic. Her parents are divorced, and her relationship with both of them is kind of strained. So when Thea takes a pregnancy test that comes back positive, she has to get ready to embark on a whole new journey – parenthood.

At least she has Will by her side – willing to stand up and be a father to their baby. When their son is born, Thea thinks everything will work out – they rent a nice apartment together, Will goes to school, and Thea watches the baby. Except things aren’t always as easy as they seem, and they spiral downward quickly for Thea, and she finds out that Will, who she expected to be by her side through everything, might not have the same interests at heart after all. Thea learns to ask others for help, and to rely on herself to learn how to get through life with a new baby.

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I didn’t dislike it, either, so there’s that. It kind of just was. I can’t say that it was exceptional in terms of writing, character development/personalities, or even plot, unfortunately. It’s the kind of book that yeah, it was nice to read, but there was just something missing.

First off, I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters – Thea included. Will just seemed like he had no personality to me – cookie cutter, maybe. The insta-love between Thea and Will in the beginning of the book was just so…meh. It felt forced, like the two had absolutely zero chemistry.

Next, I couldn’t stand Thea most of the time. She acted like an entitled brat for the majority of the book, and I was rolling my eyes more often than not. She was spoiled, expected everyone to do everything for her, and it was almost as if she didn’t try. I couldn’t connect with her at all.

Thea’s mom and dad were kind of meh to me, as well – her mom seemed to care more about her married boyfriend than she did her own daughter, but at least her dad stepped up to help when no one else would, so that was nice.

The way Will acted in the second half of the book was completely unacceptable, and some of the things Thea says regarding will in the last chapter just made me shake my head, and I kind of felt bad for her. This is a girl who was hopelessly in love with someone who had different ideas of what their lives should be like. I don’t know, I just didn’t feel anything for either of them, so I guess their relationship wasn’t something I cared much about.

I tried so hard to love this book, but I feel like I was just so bored with it that it put me into a reading slump. There was nothing new here – no diversity, no real, chemistry-fired romance, no redeeming main character with the best personality and development that you’ll ever read. Nope, none of that here. This book was okay, but I wish it had more depth, more spice to make it something that I could have gotten hooked on.

4 Responses to Hooked by Catherine Greenman

Bummer. When I read this blurb, I was really intrigued. I’m thankful for the honesty of your review. I probably won’t pick this one up because of it. If you didn’t love the characters, I’m sure I won’t.